Bastien und Bastienne (Mozart 22)

"Bastien und Bastienne" takes up the plot of the little French opera "Ledevin du village" (The Village Soothsayer) by the philosopher Jean-JacquesRousseau. The "soothsayer" Colas, a wise old shepherd, advises the unhappyshepherdess Bastienne to secure the love of the fickle Bastien by arousinghis jealousy. The despairing Bastien then also seeks advice from Colas, whopretends to use magic to bring the two lovers together again. "DerSchauspieldirektor" revolves around an impresario's problems in assemblinga group of singers for a performance.With "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" and "Die Zauberflöte," Mozart madeimmortal contributions to the genre of the German Singspiel -German-language opera with spoken dialogues. But in the course of hiscareer, Mozart also wrote two short German-language works that aredifferent in musical craftsmanship, but both utterly delightful: "Bastienund Bastienne" K. 50, one of Mozart's earliest dramatic works, and "DerSchauspieldirektor" (The Impresario) K. 486, a mature work written at thesame time as "Le nozze di Figaro."Entrusting the two operas to the world-famous Salzburg Marionette Theaterfor the Mozart 22 cycle was perfectly natural, especially since "Bastienund Bastienne" was the very first work staged by this theater at itsinaugural performance in 1913. Nevertheless, Thomas Reichert, responsiblefor the stage direction, sets and costumes, hit upon a truly brilliantidea: instead of performing one piece after the other, he combined "Bastienund Bastienne" and "Der Schauspieldirektor" in a way that captures theworld of the Singspiel in Mozart's day. Here the impresario is stillholding auditions, but now he's casting the Singspiel "Bastien undBastienne." Finding a Bastien is easy, but two potential Bastiennes singtheir arias so well that the impresario can't decide. He makes arun-through of "Bastien und Bastienne," after which the women continue toargue about who should get the role. The clever impresario hopes to squirmhis way out by hiring both, one as the A-cast and one as the B-cast. Butthis only provokes a new quarrel about who will sing at the premiere...Led by its founder Elisabeth Fuchs, the Junge Philharmonie Salzburg and acast of fresh young singers provide the spirited, light-hearted music tothis charming double fill.